1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to trailers which are expandable in width for accommodating large machinery.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In recent years, farmers have been faced with the need to incorporate economies of scale in their operations in order to provide the increased efficiency necessary to maintain a sufficient profit margin to survive in today's inflationary economy. Accordingly, it has become necessary to increase the size and efficiency of the farm machinery being used on the modern farm. In response to this increase in size of farm machinery, a need has developed for the production of trailers which have a width sufficient to allow them to be hauled, in their unloaded state, along public roads but which, when needed, can be easily adapted to accommodate the larger width machines.
In response to this need, trailers having expandable sides have been developed. An example of one such trailer can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,119,224, issued Oct. 10, 1978, to Moody. The Moody trailer includes a main longitudinal frame having support wheels mounted on either side thereof. Each side of the frame contains a plurality of telescoping supports with a side frame member interconnecting all of the telescoping supports. The side frame member can be moved to a retracted position alongside the wheels or to an extended position for accommodating large tractor farm machinery. The Moody device, while useful, is required to have a smaller track than would be desirable due to the necessity of a side frame disposed along the wheels in the retracted position.